Body Frame/Video Frame

Body Frame/Video Frame attempts to bring together contemporary dance and video. The premise is to take away all things familiar to the dancer and replacing it with a language of video. The boundaries of the stage are replaced by the contraints of the video frame, choreographed instructions are replaced by movements developed by the dancers themselves to be executed within the video frame and the mastery of ones own body and gravity are challenged by hoisting the dancers in the air through trapeze like supports and tethers. The dancers must perform airborne while remaining in the frame.The body must struggle with actual space versus the space of the lens.

Body Frame/Video Frame was my first commissioned artwork. Produced for l'Espace, Centre Cultural Francais Hanoi in 2003 and exhibited in March 2004.

The work was produced in collaboration with three principal dancers from the Ho Chi Minh City Ballet Symphony Orchestra and Opera (Nhà Hát Giao Hưởng Nhạc Vũ Kịch Thành Phố, HSBO) with technical support from the Ho Chi Minh City Circus (Đoàn xiếc thành phố Hồ Chí Minh). The dancers were Phan Thị hồng Châu, Nguyễn Phúc Hùng and Nguyễn Phúc Hải. The live performance at l'Espace visual artist Nguyễn Phạm Trung Hậu and the musical compositions of Vũ Nhật Tận.